Greek Beetroot Salad with Garlic Yogurt (Pantzarosalata)

Pantzarosalata is one of the more visually striking dishes on any Greek meze table, the deep magenta of cooked beetroot set against a bright white spoonful of garlicky yogurt or skordalia, and it is exactly as good as it looks: sweet, earthy beetroot cut with a real hit of raw garlic and sharp vinegar.

Many households cook the beetroot with its greens still attached, using the leaves themselves as a second, distinct element of the dish, wilted and dressed separately from the roots, which is a good way to avoid wasting a genuinely edible and good part of the vegetable that often gets discarded.

It is entirely make-ahead friendly, and in fact benefits from a little time in the fridge for the beetroot to properly take on the vinegar in its dressing, making it a practical dish to prepare well before guests arrive.

Key preparation steps

1. Roast or boil whole beetroot until tender, and cook the greens separately if using.
2. Peel and slice the beetroot once cool enough to handle.
3. Dress with olive oil and red wine vinegar.
4. Serve with a generous spoon of garlic yogurt or skordalia.

Cooking the beetroot

Roasting whole, unpeeled beetroot wrapped in foil in a hot oven for about an hour concentrates their sweetness far better than boiling, though boiling whole and unpeeled in salted water until a knife slides in easily is the faster, equally traditional alternative. Either way, cook them whole and unpeeled, since cutting before cooking lets the colour and nutrients bleed out into the water or steam.

If the beetroot came with its greens attached, wash them well and boil or steam separately for a few minutes until just wilted, then dress lightly with oil and lemon as a separate component of the same dish.

Peeling and dressing

Once cool enough to handle, the skin should slip off easily under running water, using gloves if you want to avoid staining your hands. Slice into rounds or wedges and dress while still slightly warm with a generous amount of olive oil and red wine vinegar, which the warm beetroot absorbs better than once fully cold.

The garlic finish

A spoonful of thick yogurt mixed with crushed raw garlic, or a proper skordalia, the potato and garlic dip, served alongside or dolloped directly on top, is what completes pantzarosalata and gives it its characteristic sharp, pungent contrast against the beetroot's sweetness.

Either topping is genuinely traditional, and the choice often comes down to what a household already has on hand, since both serve the same purpose here.

What matters in this dish